Family
members visited President Kennedy's grave site in Arlington National Cemetery
Saturday.

His
daughter, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, his brother, Senator Edward M.
Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and others knelt before the eternal flame that
is a memorial to the late president and laid flowers on the stones.

It
was 40 years ago, on November 22, 1963, that Kennedy was killed in Dallas.
He was 46.

President
Bush, reflecting on Kennedy's assassination, said the country still has
"a feeling of loss that defies the passing of years."

"America
still misses our 35th president," Bush said.

"John
F. Kennedy has been gone nearly as long as he lived, yet the memory of
him still brings pride to our nation and a feeling of loss that defies
the passing of years," Bush said in a statement Friday.

"We
remember a man who welcomed great responsibilities and had a gift for awakening
the idealism and sense of duty in others," Bush said. "We remember a leader
who called our nation to high purpose, and saw America through grave dangers
with calm, discernment and personal courage."
A Day of Tears, Tributes for JFKThousands
Visit Grave, 40 Years After AssassinationCourtesy
of the Washington PostSunday,
November 23, 2003

Forty
years later, the tears still came quickly for many of the thousands who
ventured up the Arlington National Cemetery hillside yesterday to grieve
and honor the memory of John F. Kennedy.

They
came to the former president's grave site, some with just-like-yesterday
memories of the shock of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Others
came with a deep affection for or curiosity about a leader they know from
history books and parents' stories.

Forty
white roses were strewn atop the Cape Cod granite stones that mark his
grave site, left by Kennedy family members during a private morning prayer
service. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, led
the family -- including Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and her husband and
three children, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Robert F. Kennedy's
widow, Ethel -- in prayers near the eternal flame that has burned since
Jacqueline Kennedy lit it the day of her husband's funeral.

By
mid-afternoon, after an estimated 5,000 people had trekked quietly up the
hill -- tourists by the busload, young families, older couples and student
groups -- visitors started placing flowers on top of other flowers on the
grave. Kennedy is buried there with his wife, who died in 1994, and his
infant son and a stillborn daughter.

About
three dozen people had gathered before 8 a.m., when the public was allowed
to enter, hoping to be among the first to visit. Among them was Richard
Baulcomb, 43, who had traveled from Sussex, England, to pay tribute to
a leader whose loss he said is still mourned worldwide. He and his wife,
Lorraine, would have come twice the distance, he said, though both were
toddlers when Kennedy was killed.

"There's
a longing still for someone like him to be with us again," Baulcomb said.
"That's why people are coming here in droves. Seldom today do you hear
presidents say the things he did. I hope one day a person comes here, will
be inspired by his words, and lead this country to greater things, as he
did."

Shari
Francis, a high school senior when the president was shot, paused to read
Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address, engraved near the tomb, and wiped a tear.

" .
. . with a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final
judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love."

Francis
said Kennedy showed her that the country was not just white, middle-class
families like those in her snug St. Louis neighborhood, and that presidents
did not have to be cynical people.

"With
his presidency, I realized there were other people in our country who were
being mistreated and discriminated against," she said. "I was just becoming
aware that leadership could make a difference, that a president could be
more than just a figurehead."

Tears
spilled from Peter Langmore's eyes as he stepped away from the grave. Langmore,
58, a former Kennedy campaign worker, had driven 11 hours on Friday from
Stokes Bay, Ontario, to honor the person whose philosophies, he said, led
him to a career in charity fundraising.

"I
just believed in this president so much," Langmore said. "He believed in
the equality of everybody."

Terri
Bearman, 50, said she comes to the grave every five years to remind herself
of the hopefulness of that era. "It was the last time I was really proud
of my president and my government," she said.

One
visitor left on the grave a framed picture of the smiling president and
his wife in her pink suit -- taken minutes before Lee Harvey Oswald shot
at the president's convertible in a motorcade through Dallas. Others left
notes, flags of different countries, and bunches of pansies, roses, lilies
and carnations.

Edward
Kennedy, in a statement on behalf of the Kennedy family, thanked those
who keep his brother's memory: "It means a great deal to all the members
of my family to see such an enormous outpouring of respect and affection
for President Kennedy on this still heartbreaking anniversary."

Yesterday
evening, the senator was among the hundreds of people who attended a Mass
for the slain president at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in
the District, where Kennedy's funeral Mass was conducted.

A choir
accompanied by organ and harp resounded through the recently renovated
cathedral.

"It
was like going back in time," said Everett Kinsman of Bethesda, who was
a member of the 1963 choir that sang during the funeral Mass. He recalled
looking into the audience 40 years ago and seeing a host of foreign dignitaries.
The country has not has Kennedy's caliber of leadership since, he said.

Sharon
Whittle of the District said after the service that she was 14 when Kennedy
died and was so moved by his idealism that she campaigned for his brother
Robert. "Now I'm an educator," Whittle said, partly because of Kennedy's
call to public service. "I took that seriously."

Not
all those at the grave site had personal memories of the president. At
36, Tom Burke was born after Kennedy died, but was fascinated by stories
from his parents, who married the day after the assassination. Burke stopped
with his wife, Kim, and their children, on a car trip from Durham, N.C.,
to Boston, saying he had retold the stories to their 6-year-old daughter
and 3-year-old son.

For
a group of eighth-graders from rural Indiana, the visit started a seminar
on what qualities make a great leader. They admitted they knew little about
Kennedy other than, as Shedana Par, 13, said: "He was trying to do good
things and got shot in his convertible."

Alicia
Antonia, who recently moved to the United States from Colombia, said through
an interpreter that Kennedy is beloved in her native country. "Yes, I like
Kennedy very much," she then said, without translation. "Respect very much."

While
the Eternal Flame burns at the grave site for President John F. Kennedyat
Arlington National Cemetery, the sun begins to rise over Washington, November
22, 2003

On
the 40th anniversary of his death, members of the Kennedy family gather
atdawn
to pray beside the grave of slain President John F. Kennedy, right, and
hiswife,
first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, left, in Arlington National Cemetery,
Saturday,November
22, 2003.From
right to left in front row are: Victoria Kennedy, the wife of Sen. Edward
KennedyJFK's
brother Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's
widow,JFK's
daughter Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, her son John Schlossberg, husband
EdwinSchlossberg,
daughters Rose Schlossberg, and Tatiana Schlossberg.

A
picture of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy
near theirgraves
at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, November 22, 2003.

U.S.
Senator Edward Kennedy, surrounded by his family, lays a flower on thegrave
of his brother President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery,
November 22, 2003.

Senator
Edward Kennedy lays flowers on the grave of his brother, slainPresident
John F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery on the 40th anniversary
of theassassination
in Dallas, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003. Behind him in front row are, from right,
his wife,Victoria
Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's widow Ethel Kennedy, JFK's daughter Caroline
Kennedy Schlossberg, her
son John Schlossberg, her husband Edwin Schlossberg, and daughters Tatianaand
Rose Schlossberg.

Caroline
Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, kneels
toplace
flowers on his grave in Arlington National Cemetery

Caroline
Kennedy Schlossberg, (C) surrounded by her family, kneels before the eternalflame
marking the grave of her father President John F. Kennedy at Arlington
National Cemetery, November 22, 2003.From
L-R in front row: Rose, Tatiana, Edwin and Jack Schlossberg, Caroline,
Ethel Kennedy,Senator
Ted Kennedy and Victoria Kennedy. Others are not identified.Today
marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.

The
gravesite of the assassinated US President John F. Kennedyat
Arlington National Cemetery

Flowers
brought by members of the Kennedy family lay on the grave of slain PresidentJohn
F. Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery, Saturday, November 22, 2003.

Representative
Patrick Kennedy, right, kneels to place flowers on the grave of his uncle,slain
President John F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery on the 40th anniversary
of theassassination
in Dallas, Saturday, November 22, 2003. President Kennedy's daughter Caroline
KennedySchlossberg
stands in front of the grave of her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, at left.Beth
Kennedy, wife of former Representative Joseph Kennedy, is at far left

Visitors
at the John F. Kennedy Memorial watch the Eternal Flame at Arlington National
Cemetery,

On
the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
in Dallas,visitors
pay their respects at Kennedy's gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery,
Saturday, November 22,2003.
Members of the slain president's family visited in private at dawn before
the cemetery was opened to the public.

On
the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedyin
Dallas, Frank Papaycik of Haddonfield, New Jersey, kneels at the eternal
flame at the gravesiteof
Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, as visitors pay their respects,
in Arlington National CemeterySaturday,
November 22, 2003. Papaycik attended Kennedy's inauguration in Washington
in 1961

On
the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedyin
Dallas, visitors pay their respects at Kennedy's gravesite in Arlington
National Cemetery Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003

On
the 40th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy, visitors,
including thisMuncie,
Indiana, high school tour group, walk up the hill leading to the Kennedygravesite
in Arlington National Cemetery Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003.

On
a balmy fall day, thousands of people found their way to theKennedy
grave site on an Arlington hillside.